Work holding device for use with sewing machines



L. BONO March 26, 1963 WORK HOLDING DEVICE FOR USE WITH SEWING MACHINESFiled June 20, 1960 'L-IFIIIII I United States Patent 3,082,721 WORKHOLDING DEVICE FOR USE WITH SEWING MACHINES Luigi Bono, Pavia, Italy,assignor to Necchi Societa per Az'ioni, Pavia, Italy Filed June 20,1960, Ser. No. 37,401 Claims priority, application Italy Feb. 17, 1960 4Claims. (Cl. 112102) This invention relates in general to new and usefulimprovements in accessories for sewing machines, and more particularlyrelates to a novel work holding device for use with sewing machinesequipped with means for moving cloth relative to the needle of thesewing machine in timed relation to the sewing operation.

Sewing machines are presently equipped with work holding devices orother types of cloth holders which are mounted for movement relative tothe needles thereof in order to execute a predetermined design. Suchsewing machines are provided with cams or pantograph means connected tothe cloth holders to automaticallyshift the cloth relative to theneedles. The present invention relates to a work holding device of theforegoing type wherein the work holding device is mounted for rotationabout a center to chosen angles at will whereby embroidery motifs, suchas those disposed as a halo of rays, may be executed without removingthe cloth from the work holder.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel work holdingdevice for use in the foregoing manner, the work holding device beingprovided with indexing means to facilitate the positioning of cloth atthe desired angle without the sewing machine operator having to mark onthe cloth the desired pattern.

Another object ofthe invention is to provide a novel work holding devicefor sewing machines of the type having means for automatically shiftinga work holder to execute a given design on cloth, the work holdingdevice including a support havingmeans for attachment to a sewingmachine work holder shifting mechanism, a support. ring rotatablyjournalled in. said support, a cloth retaining ring cooperating withsaid support ring to hold cloth in fixed relation relative to thesupport ring, and cooperating means on the support and the support ringfor holding the support ring in a selected angle relative to thesupport.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel work holdingdevice for a sewing machine of the type having cams, pantograph meansand the like for automatically shifting a work holder relative to theneedle of the sewing machine to repeatedly execute a desired design, thework holding device including a rotatable cloth support whereby a givendesign may be repeated about a center without necessitating the removalof the cloth from the work holder, the work holding device includingmeans for rotating the cloth support and means for retaining the clothsupport in a selected angular position, whereby the designs may beexecuted in the desired angular relation without tracing in advance thedesired pattern on the cloth.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear,the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by referenceto the following detailed description, the appended claims, and theseveral views illustrated in the accompanying drawings:

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a'plan view of the work holding device and shows the generalarrangement of the components thereof, the cloth held by the workholding device being partially shown with a portion of the desiredpattern thereon.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the 3,082,721 PatentedMar. 26, 1963 line IIII of FIGURE 1 and shows generally the details ofmounting the cloth support.

FIGURE 3 is a bottom View of the workholding device and shows the meansfor rotating the cloth support.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical view and shows the specificdetails of construction of the cloth support and the manner in which thecloth support is mounted for rotation as well as the means for lockingthe cloth support against rotation.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken alongthe line V-V of FIGURE 3 and shows the details of example means forattaching the work holding device to work holder shifting means.

The work holding device, as illustrated in the drawings, includes asupport 1, the outline of which is best illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3.The support 1 is in the form of a plate which may rest upon a suitablesupporting surface (not shown) of a sewing machine. The support 1 has alarge circular opening 21 formed therein. A Work holder or cloth support22 is seated in the support 1 within the opening, the cloth support 22including a support ring 2 and a cooperating cloth retaining ring 3. Thesupport ring has an annular groove 23 in the inner surface thereofreceiving the ring 3. The ring 3 is formed of a spring rod and has apair of spaced arms 3', 3' to facilitate the collapsing of the ring 3 toremove the ring 3 from the support ring 2. The ring 3 serves to clampcloth a in position within. the support ring 2.

The support 1 has an annular shoulder or rib 4 projecting into theopening 21, the rib 4 being spaced inwardly from the surfaces of thesupport 1. Thethickness of the support ring 2 is substantially the sameas that ofthe support 1 and includes an upper annular collar 24 whichoverlies the rib 4 and limits downward movement of the support ring 2. Aremovable collar 5 is seated in a recess 25 formed in the underside ofthe support ring 2.5.-The .collar 5 underlies the rib 4 and cooperateswith the'collar'24 ,to retain the support ring 2 within the plane ofthe'support v1 while permitting rotation of the support ring 2; by defininga recess receiving the rib 4. The

\ collar '5is'se'cured to the support ring 2 by suitable screws Thecollar 5 is externally toothed todefine a gear ring and is meshed with adrive gear 7. The gear 7 is seated in a recess 26 formed in theunderside of the support 1 and is carried by a shaft 27 extendingthrough and journalled in the support 1. A knob 8 is secured to theupper end of the shaft 27 to facilitate the rotation of the gear 7 tothus rotate the cloth support 22. Of course, it is obvious that othermeans may be provided to rotate the cloth support 22, or the clothsupport may be rotated by grasping the arms 3', 3'. In such event, thegear 7, the shaft 27 and the knob 8 would be omitted.

The upper surface of the support ring 2 is provided with suitable indexmarks 9 which are readily visible. The cloth support 22 may be properlyindexed by aligning a desired one of the index marks 9 with a referencemark 10 on the support 1.

The outer surface of the support ring 2 is provided with a pair ofdiametrically extending bores 11. A ball 12 is disposed in the outerpart of each of the bores 11 and is spring urged outwardly by a spring13 disposed within the respective one of the bores 11. The rib 4 isprovided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced matches or grooves14 which extend normal to the plane of the support 1. The grooves 14 areequispaced and the spacing between the grooves is the same as thespacing of the index marks 9. The grooves 14 receive the balls 12 toretain the support ring 2 in a last placed position. If desired, thepositions of the grooves 14 and the balls 12 may be reversed withgrooves 14 being in the support ring 2 and the balls 12 carried by thesupport 1. Also, it is to be understood that other types of detents maybe used in lieu of the balls 12.

In FIGURE 5 example means are provided for releasably connecting thesupport 1 to the cam means or pantagraph means (not shown) of the sewingmachine, are shown. The example means includes a pair of plugs 15, 16which may be plugged into usual work holder shifting arm (not shown) ofthe sewing machine. A sight opening 17 is formed in the support 1adjacent the plugs 15, 16 to facilitate the making of the desiredconnection. Other types of couplings may, of course, be provided.

In the use of the work holding device a desired closed design b isexecuted on the cloth a. After the design b has been executed the sewingmachine is stopped and the cloth a rotate about the needle of the sewingmachine by merely rotating the cloth support. The design b is againexecuted and the procedure is repeated until the desired overall designexecuted.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that novel and advantageousprovision has been made for carrying out the desired end. However,attention is again directed .to the fact that variations may be made inthe example work holder structure without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A work holding attachment for a sewing machine comprising a supporthaving a smooth undersurface for directly resting on a sewing machinesupport surface for sliding thereon and a large circular opening formedtherein, an annular shoulder projecting into said circular opening, awork holder including an outer support ring having an internal recessand a cloth holding ring releasably seated in said recess, said supportring having a major portion thereof lying in the plane of said supportand an annular recess receiving said annular shoulder to rotatab-lymount said loom in said support, means carried by said support forrotating said work holder to the desired position, cooperating means onsaid support and said support ring entirely within the confines of saidsupport for releasably retaining said work holder in an adjusted rotatedposition relative to said support, said work holder and said supporthaving cooperating indicia means for indicating the position of saidwork holder relative to said support.

2. The work holding attachment of claim 1 together with means forattaching said support to shiftable sewing machine means for effectingthe shifting of said work holding attachment in timed relation to theoperation of the sewing machine.

3. A work holding attachment for a sewing machine comprising a flatsupport plate adapted to be supported on a sewing machine supportingsurface for sliding movement, means carried by said support plate forattachment to shiftable sewing machine means for effecting the shiftingof said support plate in timed relation to the operation of the sewingmachine, said support plate having a large circular opening formedtherein, a work holder including an outer support ring having aninternal recess and a cloth holding ring releasably seated in saidrecess, said support ring lying entirely in the plane of said supportplate and having an outer recess intermediate the upper and lowersurfaces thereof, said support plate having an annular shoulderprojecting into said support ring outer recess and restricting saidsupport ring against movement out of the plane of said support plate, aplurality of circumferentially spaced notches in said annular shoulder,a spring urged ball detent carried by said support ring and engageablein said notches and retaining said support ring in an adjusted indexedposition, and means directedly carried by said support plate forrotating said support ring.

4. The work holding attachment of claim 3 wherein said support ringincludes a lower releasable gear ring, and said support plate rotatingmeans including a shaft rotatably journaled in said support plate andhaving a gear on the lower end thereof meshing with said gear ring andan operator on the upper end thereof above said plate.

References Cited in the file of-this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,159,901 Oorrall Nov. 9, 1915 1,305,927 Parkes June 3, 1919 1,333,432Maier May 9, 1920 1,431,591 Lucy Oct. 10, 1922 1,463,706 Ketchum July31, 1923 Patent No. 3082,721 March 26. 1963 Luigi Bono ears in the abovenumbered patthat error app s Patent should read as It is herebycertified d that the said Letter ent requiring correction an correctedbelow.

Column 3, line 39, for "loom" read work holder Signed and sealed this7th day of April 1964.

(SEAL) Atlestl EDWARD J. BRENNER ERNEST W. SWIDER Commissioner ofPatents Attesting Officer

1. A WORK HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR A SEWING MACHINE COMPRISING A SUPPORTHAVING A SMOOTH UNDERSURFACE FOR DIRECTLY RESTING ON A SEWING MACHINESUPPORT SURFACE FOR SLIDING THEREON AND A LARGE CIRCULAR OPENING FORMEDTHEREIN, AN ANNULAR SHOULDER PROJECTING INTO SAID CIRCULAR OPENING, AWORK HOLDER INCLUDING AN OUTER SUPPORT RING HAVING AN INTERNAL RECESSAND A CLOTH HOLDING RING RELEASABLY SEATED IN SAID RECESS, SAID SUPPORTRING HAVING A MAJOR PORTION THEREOF LYING IN THE PLANE OF SAID SUPPORTAND AN ANNULAR RECESS RECEIVING SAID ANNULAR SHOULDER TO ROTATABLY MOUNTSAID LOOM IN SAID SUPPORT, MEANS CARRIED BY SAID SUPPORT FOR ROTATINGSAID WORK HOLDER TO THE DESIRED POSITION, COOPERATING MEANS ON SAIDSUPPORT AND SAID SUPPORT RING ENTIRELY WITHIN THE CONFINES OF SAIDSUPPORT FOR RELEASABLY RETAINING SAID WORK HOLDER IN AN ADJUSTED ROTATEDPOSITION RELATIVE TO SAID SUPPORT, SAID WORK HOLDER AND SAID SUPPORTHAVING COOPERATING INDICIA MEANS FOR INDICATING THE POSITION OF SAIDWORK HOLDER RELATIVE TO SAID SUPPORT.